GPN8:Activism

Situation of Media Activism in Burma and Thailand - Two Politically Turbulent Countries of Asia

lecturer: keiko sei <Ksei@hfg-karlsruhe.de>

talk:

In the last two years, Burma and Thailand have been going through dramatic events and changes. Media activists in these countries, despite a tremendous risk of arrest, are playing a pivotal role: bloggers and citizen video journalists managed to witness and send pictures and videos out of the country during the Saffron Revolution and the cyclone Nargis in Burma, and in Thailand, new generation of media activists are emerging in the midst of conflicts that have devided the country. The authorities of the both countries are taking draconian measures to crackdown net activists, and the activists are fighting back. We will take a look at the situation of media activism in the two countries and see how activists are doing their works. Introduction by Keiko Sei, Skype talk from Thailand with Arthit Suriyawongkul of Thai Netizen Network http://thainetizen.org/, group that advocate cyber liberty, and with a leader of Generation Wave (the name withheld for security reason), http://www.generationwave-network.co.cc/ totally new generation of Burmese activist group.